Event Featured New Breakout Sessions On Green Strategies and 2009 PhRMA Rules

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Impact Unlimited, a leading provider of brand communications for events, meetings, and exhibits worldwide, hosted more than 65 meeting and event professionals at its Annual Summer Symposium on August 21 at the Princeton Marriott Hotel & Conference Center at Forrestal in Princeton, N.J. Entitled Re:Think 08, Impact Unlimited's annual event offered brand, marketing, and convention managers a unique look at building effective teams.

"We had a phenomenal turn out again this year," said Ken Payne, President of Impact Unlimited. "Our speakers truly inspired our audience and encouraged them to look at different ways to make their own teams and departments more efficient, which is what Re:Think is all about."

Hosted by Comedy Central and VH1 veteran MC/Comedian Scott Bloom, the tone of the meeting was energized by video scratcher Roonie G, fresh from the X Games, who mixed hip hop and classic video clips on teambuilding for meeting openers and networking sessions.

Appropriately themed, "Making Effective Teams / Making Teams Effective" the event emphasized leveraging individual strengths to create successful teams and achieve common goals. The event featured presentations from renowned creative thinkers including Chuck Martin, author of Smarts: Are We Hardwired for Success and Scott Belsky, Founder and CEO of Behance, LLC and creator of the "Action Method: Making Ideas Happen."

Martin's presentation focused on the 12 Executive Skills, which are hardwired brain functions that every person possesses. His thought-provoking presentation provided attendees with a framework to help them quickly identify and tap into their predominant Executive Skills as well as understand the skills of their colleagues and peers. The important take-away message was that the most effective teams are made of a mix of people with a variety of complementary Executive Skills and learning how to identify and deal with them is key to success.

Belsky's presentations addressed how teams can be more effective through what he calls the "Action Method." Belsky, a Harvard Business School graduate who has performed research on creativity and teams, pointed out that the key to the Action Method is leaving every meeting with the following three items: action steps, backburner items and reference items. He then demonstrated methods that help people to better execute these items once a meeting has ended.

Impact incorporated high-tech identifier devices from nTAG, a leading provider of real-time technology and services for face-to-face events, into the symposium. They were used during a series of networking sessions where Re:Think attendees used their nTAG devices to seek out people with shared and / or complimentary characteristics and "Executive Skills" as outlined by Chuck Martin during his presentation. In fact, 1,258 electronic business cards were exchanged between attendees using nTAG underscoring the heavy networking during the event.

The event also featured the Trend Center, which comprised an entire ballroom dedicated to new trends in interactivity and communication tools, meeting and event best practices, green strategies, green materials, design trends, ROI measurements, and graphics.

This year's program also featured two distinct breakout sessions focusing on critical topics to attendees and the industry. One breakout session was entitled "Green My Event," which featured an interactive workshop focusing on what companies can do today to implement Green strategies at meetings and events as part of their overall branding efforts including an overview of green materials that can be specified in event environments. In support of this Green theme, Impact utilized Green strategies for Re:Think this year by buying a carbon offset credit for the last five Re:Think meetings, utilizing recyclable fabrics for all set elements, providing all of the session's information on-line via a separate event Web site at http://www.impactunlimited.com/rethink08 as well as other initiatives. Recycled carpet, LED lighting and displays made of natural and recycled materials were also integrated into the event.

Impact's other breakout session, entitled "PhRMA 2009 - Now What?" was lead by Jeffrey K. Francer, Assistant General Counsel for PhRMA and featured an interactive discussion on new PhRMA rules for 2009 and their implications for marketers and event professionals.

"Year after year we recommit ourselves to providing our clients with the most up-to-date industry information in a fun, fresh and thought-inspiring way," said Sandie Stransky, Vice President of Sales for Impact Unlimited. "We reinvented the program this year adding interactive and breakout sessions on timely and relevant industry topics to keep our clients ahead of the curve. It was a great day and most importantly everyone walked away inspired."

"As an excellent example of a proprietary meeting, Re:Think is definitely in our sweet spot - where our creativity, meeting and event planning and our media and production groups all integrate into one killer solution. It's one of our best portfolio shots," added Marilyn Burch, Vice President Global Business Development for Impact Unlimited.

About Impact Unlimited
Headquartered in Dayton, N.J., with offices in San Francisco, Zurich, and São Paulo, Impact Unlimited is a creative and strategic company that provides a breadth of products and services that help its clients optimize investments in events, exhibits, and meetings. The company's award-winning creative services, along with its in-house production capabilities and worldwide logistics network, provide clients with design-driven solutions for building their brands and their businesses at the most critical point in the marketing continuum -- face-to-face at events, exhibits and meetings worldwide.

With 35 years of experience and success, Impact Unlimited serves a Blue Chip portfolio of clients spanning North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.